# Recommend a good sake to me



## decesaro (Jan 31, 2006)

I was watching a show on sake last night on the fine living channel and it sounds like something I would like to try, but have no idea what to buy. I was hopping to keep the price to under 10.00 a bottle


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## altbier (Feb 20, 2005)

I dont think there is such a thing as a good sake. At least none of the stuff we get here in the US.


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## akatora (Dec 12, 2005)

Maybe you´ll find some helpfull information @ this page.

http://www.sake-world.com/html/best-sake-picks.html#Super Popular Sake

Good Luck!


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## PaulMac (Jul 15, 2003)

altbier said:


> I dont think there is such a thing as a good sake. At least none of the stuff we get here in the US.


you can find it, but its much easier to find at a bar than a liquor store. There is a fantastic sake bar in manhattan with about 100 sake's. I know most online retailers have a pathetic selection.


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## altbier (Feb 20, 2005)

PaulMac said:


> you can find it, but its much easier to find at a bar than a liquor store. There is a fantastic sake bar in manhattan with about 100 sake's. I know most online retailers have a pathetic selection.


In Richmond it is pretty limited. Maybe I should make a batch of sake.


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## Siamang (Mar 1, 2006)

For under 10 bucks it's *really* tough to find a bottle of decent sake. The house sakes served piping hot in sushi bars are obtainable for that price, but they're honestly not particularly good sakes - you should be able to drink a decent sake cold instead of needing to heat it up to hide the lousy taste behind heat and alcohol. If you're going to drink sake hot, at least drink it warm and not scalding.

Sake World has some good info on sake. American sakes, while eschewed by the snobs, can be excellent values. Ratebeer has a decent article that gives you some good starting points for American sakes. I personally enjoyed a couple of the Momokawa sakes a lot, and they're dirt cheap for the quality you get(although the blue bottles and gaudy labels are a little ghetto).

So anyway...if I had around $10 to spend on sake I'd buy:

Momokawa Silver/Diamond - these are both really good for what you'll be paying.

Momokawa Pearl - This is a milky _nigori_ style sake, which means that it's unfiltered and has a lot of sweet rice sediment in it. Definitely not a traditional clear sake, but it's a nice change of pace and delicious in that 'sugary tropical alcoholic drink' way. I like to drink it cold in the summertime.

Gekkeikan Black & Gold - My friend and I would buy a bottle of this every time we went to Japantown in San Francisco, and proceeded to drink most of it when we got home. It's a great starter sake that's a step above the house sakes in restaurants, and the bottle looks neat! It's good both chilled and warmed, although I tend to prefer it warm.

Those should be a decent start. Gekkeikan Silver is also a good smooth sake, although I think their standard line is pretty rough. I've never liked anything by Sho Chiku Bai. Ozeki is the Budweiser of sakes, and it's probably worth buying a One Cup to gain some experience with that particular taste. It's not a dog rocket by any means, but definitely not the Opus X of sake either.


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## 12stones (Jan 6, 2006)

If you can find some, you should try some _awamori_. It's an Okinawan version of sake that is distilled instead of fermented like regular sake. You drink it cold and can water it down depending on your tastes. It's great stuff and is much better than regular sake.

EDIT: Or, locate some Habu Sake, that stuff will knock ya down for the count. It's got a habu (a poisonous snake that's indigenous to Okinawa) in it for more "power." Let's just say it's not something you should drink on a regular basis.


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## par (May 22, 2005)

go to bevmo.com and search for junmai.

Junmai is a high quality of sake, and in the pure junmai there is no addition of raw alcohol (the lower grades of sake adds alcohol to it). Junmai ginjo is a slightly lower grade but pretty nice. I prefer junmai as the rice is highly polished (the starches are ground off from the surface). 

In general sake must be had fresh. Aged sake looses flavor and generally doesn't improve.

i prefer sake chilled. When i lived in japan i had sake warmed only during the coldest days of winter. 

Sake and beer complements each other nicely. If you have japanese beer i suggest that you try asahi super dry. It works very nicely with sake.

cheers,
par


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## Puro_Angler (Mar 23, 2006)

par said:


> Sake and beer complements each other nicely. If you have japanese beer i suggest that you try asahi super dry. It works very nicely with sake.
> 
> cheers,
> par


Or you can try a Sake Bomb -- drop a shot of sake in a mug half-filled with Saporo or any other Japanese beer. Bottoms Up!


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## decesaro (Jan 31, 2006)

Thanks for all the links and recomendations. 

holy shit snake poisonous !! Ahh can you say hell no. Your kidding right ? 

The sake bomb cracks me up :r


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## joshua-cr (Sep 7, 2005)

Sake is probably easier to find than Soju. I haven't really tried either though come to think of it.


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## zamco17 (Mar 24, 2006)

I work a liqour store and we have soju and quite a few sakes. But all the sakes i have tried were awful


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## Mbraud4 (Feb 17, 2006)

Giving a homemade pineapple sake a try. Just buy any old normal sake and cut up a pineapple, put them in a container and seal it, put it in the fridge. Give it about 5 days or so to ferment and transfer some flavor. Then you take out the pineapple and serve the sake cold. Nothing special but it tastes pretty darn good to me


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## Bruce (Dec 31, 1999)

Try here:

http://www.truesake.com/index_content.html

Sake is excellent with cigars! Mild and fairly neutral, it doesn't make the nuances of a fine cigar.
Premium sake is served chilled. The warm stuff is equivelant to "house wine".


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